‘It’s a Distraction! It’s Misleading!’ Fox News Airs Five Minutes of Democratic Senator Raging Against J.D. Vance’s Anti-Mask Bill

Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) tore into Sen. JD Vance’s (R-OH) bill seeking to ban federal mask mandates during a floor debate on Thursday and received a large chunk of air time on Fox News as a result.

After Vance introduced his “The Freedom to Breathe Act,” Markey objected and gave a lengthy speech attacking it.

“This bill would undermine the ability of states, cities and towns across this country to make decisions about what’s best for their communities. It would silence and hamstring public health experts who have guided our nation out of the darkest days of a pandemic that has killed 1,390,000 in three years,” Markey began, adding:

This provision would violate a long held belief in the Republican Party that states and localities should not be told what to do by a federal government removed from the realities that they’re seeing on the ground in their neighborhoods. This bill is little more than an attempt by Republicans to dismantle a public health infrastructure that had to be built in order to deal with this greatest pandemic since 1918.

Markey continued his floor speech and raged at Vance’s proposal, concluding:

The only thing that the Republicans seem willing to mask is their antipathy for making health care affordable and acceptable for millions of Americans. Republicans already fought this year to throw people off of Medicaid and their health coverage. Not a single Republican voted to make insulin and other medications more affordable for seniors.

Republicans have blocked legislation to protect the right of individuals to make health care decisions with their doctors. It makes no sense to put limits on how communities and individuals can protect themselves.

This bill is a red herring. It is a false debate. We should have an aquarium down on the well of the Senate to capture all the red herrings that are being introduced into this public health debate. It’s a distraction. It’s misleading and it is meant to deflect from what the GOP really stands for. Right now, gimmicks over people.

After Markey spoke for a full five minutes, anchor Sandra Smith cut in and offered some context.

“This is a unanimous consent that he’s looking for on the Senate floor that would obviously require the approval of 100 senators. That’s likely not going to happen.”

“But it’s sparking the debate and discussion, as J.D. Vance pointed out at the beginning there. There are some universities who are now signing on to this, too, implementing masks being worn again,” Smith continued.

Markey’s passionate defense of local officials being able to bring back masking is likely going to add to the discussion of the topic in the media, including on Fox.

Watch the full clip above via Fox News.